How To Connect USB Devices To VMware Virtual Machines

VMware Workstation and VMware Player allow you to connect the removable devices, such as USB drives and USB printers to a virtual machine. However, in the case of USB printer, you also need to enable virtual printing for the virtual machine. When you connect a USB device to a VMware virtual machine, you can use it in the same way as you use in a physical system. However, a USB device can be connected either to the physical system or to the virtual machine at a time. You can customize the settings for a removable device, for this, you need to change the virtual machine settings. Before customizing the removable device settings, ensure that the virtual machine, to which you want to connect the USB device, is powered on. In this post, we will explain how to connect USB devices to VMware virtual machines.

Steps to Connect USB Devices to VMware Virtual Machines

To connect USB devices to VMware virtual machines, you need to perform the following steps:

On the VMware Player console, click Player (click VM, if you are using VMware Workstation) and select Removable Devices. In the removable device options, select the device that you want to connect, such as USB Pendrive, and then select Connect. The following figure shows how to connect USB Device to VMware Virtual Machines.

Once the USB device is connected to a VMware virtual machine, it should be displayed inside the virtual machine. Use it as you wish. The figure shows that a USB drive is connected to the VMware virtual machine.

Disconnecting USB Devices

To disconnect the USB device, select the virtual machine, click Player (VM) and select Removable Devices. Select the device that you want to disconnect and then select Disconnect.